Recently I have met more and more people wearing crosses, from countries where the government dictates the religion, and where Christians are regularly persecuted. But they aren’t just wearing crosses around their necks, they are also carrying one on their backs.

They have escaped religious persecution in their countries, have witnessed family members killed, have escaped with their lives and now live in freedom. They now have the freedom to wear a cross openly, to smile and respond when the name Jesus is mentioned, to share information about where they worship without fear of jeopardizing the lives of the people they worship with.

They have not only been liberated by the cross of Jesus from the burden of their sins, they have been liberated from government systems that would tell them this liberation is wrong, is illegal and is deadly.

What is most gratifying, as an American, is that they chose this country to express and share their new found freedom… their new liberty.

How appropriate, in this day of sensitivity to human rights violations, ethnic cleansing, and genocide that America still opens its doors to persecuted Christians.